


Stones of Fear, Stones of Doubt

by The_Marron



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, Jason Todd Has Feelings, Literary References & Allusions, M/M, Panic Attacks, Psychological Trauma, mind-invasion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26745871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Marron/pseuds/The_Marron
Summary: Jason is given sudden realizations about his relationship with Red Robin while being tied to the chair and mind-probed by a C-list villain.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 18
Kudos: 167





	Stones of Fear, Stones of Doubt

**Author's Note:**

> The fic starts with a minor panic attack description, you've been warned.

When Jason wakes up, he wishes he hadn’t. Being tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse, his movements restricted, his helmet removed…

He feels panic rising in his veins, his imagination supplying the memories of the Joker, of the crowbar raising and falling; memories he tried to forget, suppress for so long, but he cannot, he never could and now it’s happening again and…

A loud noise snaps him out of it. The Joker is never loud, not when he is playing with his victims, no, he is quiet then, almost tender, so that his maniacal laughter is that much more effective, so much more terrifying.

This is not the Joker.

So Jason can deal. He starts to slow down his breathing, trying to regain his composure before his abductors realize how much the situation is truly affecting him.

He looks around - the source of the noise was someone opening the doors to let a large military truck inside. There are people leaving the truck, looking like a group of terrorists, Kevlar vests, machine guns, the whole nine yards. Jason feels a bit better. They cannot do anything worse to him than he has already been through. Dick would complain that he shouldn’t be so pessimistic, but frankly, Jason finds solace in his past trauma – if the worst that could happen to you had already happened, there is not much more that you fear. Aside from relieving that particular experience, but this is probably not what the terrorists wanted him to do.

“Welcome, Red Hood. Glad you could join us.” Says someone to his left and Jason turns to inspect them. A woman. Blue body suit, long blonde hair. A mean glint in her eye. A C-list villain at best, since Jason knows nothing about her and he is pretty good at spotting new faces in Gotham. He is one of the crime lords after all. Still, not knowing worries him. Not knowing means not being prepared. And his years with Bruce showed him that being prepared decided if you went back home in one piece or not.

“I think this line has been used in way too many movies to make anyone quiver with fear” He replies, his cocky tone the only defensive mechanism he has at the moment. The woman frowns.

“You won’t be so chirpy after I’m done with you.”

“Oh, sure. That’s what they all say.” The woman hits him, and yeah, that hurts. Even if this is no Joker and Jason got his cool back, this still hurt. Just because they couldn’t get worse than his murderer, doesn’t mean this hurts any less. Torture is not fun, no matter how many times you are subjected to it. You get used to it on a mental level, but you feel the pain nonetheless and you have to live with broken bones and scars as reminders. Not fun.

“I was wondering how to break you.”

“Many have tried.” Jason supplies, trying to come off as flippant as possible. Sometimes antagonizing the villains worked. Making them believe that nothing they threw at him could faze him saved his skin many times. So he tries again.

“So, what are you torturing me for? What do you want to know and where are we starting, I have to mark it in my journal, I am actually running nice statistics, nails are rather popular.” He continues and he sees a slight confusion on the woman’s face. But then, she smiles. Not a good sign.

“Don’t worry. We did our research. We know that hitting you is unsatisfactory at best. But then again, maybe you weren’t hit where it hurts before.” Jason searches his mind for a clever retort that would convey how little he cares.

“After you’ve died once, everything is rather unimpressive, I’ll give you that.” The woman smiles wider.

“You killed my brother right in front of me. I think I’ll return the favour.” Oh shit. Do they know? If she wants to torture his brother, she probably knows about Dick, and if she knows about Dick then Bruces’s identity is not a secret and that is huge… Too huge, even. If they know who the Batman is then they shouldn’t bother with Red Hood. Even if it is personal. So maybe they know nothing.

“Sorry, no brothers.” He tries, watching for the reaction. The smile stays on the woman’s face.

“Don’t worry, hon. I will look inside your head and we will find a perfect candidate. I will make sure their death shakes you to the core.”

“Oh, good luck, then. I’ve been a bit antisocial lately, so if you find anyone I give a damn about that would be interesting.”

Here, she stops smiling.

“You don’t even remember me, do you? You don’t remember killing my brother at all?” She sounds a bit shaken and he would by rather sympathetic towards her, if it wasn’t for the fact that she is his captor and means to invade his mind with malicious intentions.

“Look lady, I’m sorry but I have no idea who you are. But I don’t kill people who don’t deserve it. I don’t know what your brother did, sold drugs to the kids, trafficked them or worse, and I don’t care. He deserved what happened to him.”

She hits him again. It hurts less, as if anger took her strength away.

“Then you deserve everything that you are going to experience. I am the Dreamcatcher and your mind is mine to command!”

The woman’s eyes glow blue and this is the last thing Jason sees before he falls into darkness.

*

He is sitting at a table with Kori on the other side, playing cards. She is wearing a white empire dress that contrasts with her skin, her hair pulled up, a friendly smile on her lips. When he looks around, he sees they are in someone’s drawing room, the light green wallpaper giving the room a cozy feel. There is Dick, sitting in an armchair next to the fireplace, a book in his hand, pretending not to look at Jason and Kori with disapproving glances. He looks like a true lord in his dark frock and Jason smirks at him. Disapproving glances be damned, he is probably just jealous because Kori is not paying attention to him.

“I’m pretty sure he came back because of the Superboy, you know, since Superboy took up with WonderGirl…” Kori says in a whisper that could be heard in the whole room. She isn’t doing it out of maliciousness, she simply didn’t get the hang of whispering that well.

“Who wouldn’t. To be hung up on a man that is already taken. How pitiful, really. I guess he is too old to meet someone at this point, which is great, someone must take care of Batman in his old age and frankly, it’s not like Red Robin is a catch, he lacks any charm.” Jason replies, not bothering to lower his voice into a whisper.

“Don’t say that, I’m sure he is rather accomplished, he is truly well-educated, just… boring, I guess.” Kori muses, cruel in her good intentions.

There is a scratch of a chair and Jason turns around just to see Tim and Bruce leaving the table right behind Jason’s back. Guilt and shame enter Jason’s mind as he watches the two of them walk away, Tim not even sparing a glance in their direction. There is a slight trembling to his back and Jason knows the hit landed home.

He no longer wishes to talk to Kori all of a sudden.

Dick’s disapproving frown hardens.

The scene washes away and suddenly Jason is sitting in a different drawing room, Kori once again at his side, this time pretending to read the book in her hand.

“I heard that Red Robin is leaving. Apparently he told Batman that since somebody has to look after the two of them, he is willing to work. He is leaving for London to become a teacher, I think. This is his last week here, it seems.” She says and Jason heart breaks a little. He wants to run, wants to catch Tim and tell him, tell him…

He wakes up.

*

“What was this bullshit?” The woman, Dreamcatcher, screams and Jason shrugs as well as he can with his hand still tied to the chair.

Jason thinks about it.

“I think this was _Emma_ , but might have been any other Austen novel, you know.”

“Why are your thoughts like this?” Because Talia al Ghul put mental barriers in the Batfamily’s minds to protect Bruce’s identity from ever being betrayed during the mental attack. But he doesn’t say it outloud. He is rather amused that his mind chose Austen to defend itself with.

“Looking at all of these masked superheroes sitting in a Victorian house was unsettling at best, and not exactly informative.” The Dreamcatcher confesses and Jason is ready to tell her that Austen houses are totally not Victorian, when her eyes glow blue again and the last thing he hears is ‘Let’s try again’

Everything is black.

*

Ra’s al Ghul enters his bedroom and Jason wants to scream for help, wants to alert his companions that the vampire they were looking for is here that they were right all along, but his voice dies out when he locks his eyes with Ra’s. He barely remembers the bite – it is painful, not ecstatic as he thought it might be, and then he grows cold.

His days become a blur, he can’t remember what he was doing, what he said…

This happens every night and it gets harder and harder to look at Dick, Tim and Damian without attacking them.

He wants their blood. He wants them dead and at the same time, he wants them immortal, like him, serving his new master.

And then he has Tim pressed to the wall, his fangs inches from the younger man’s neck and he wants to bite down so much, he simply wants to feed, to quench the hunger… But he doesn’t. He lets Tim go and feeling his sanity fading away, he talks to Bruce, asks him to keep Tim and the others safe, to protect them from him and from his master.

And then, there is nothing.

He is dead.

He is dead for three days, and then suddenly, he can leave his grave. The moment he steps outside and the moon shines on him, he feels powerful. He feels hungry. And enraged. So enraged.

The last thing he sees in a rare moment of clarity is Tim’s face, smeared with blood, tears running down his face as he puts the stake through Jason’s heart to finish his suffering and Jason is almost glad that this is how it ends.

And yet, he wakes up with regret.

*

“The fuck is wrong with you?”

“Dunno. Too many books, maybe? Or maybe being dead does that to a person.” She hits him for that, but it almost doesn’t hurt anymore. She gets nothing from these visions, seeing the actors in their costumes and not understanding the context, the characters appearing in visions changing constantly. Jason feels almost safe. He betrayed nothing of value.

She takes him under, again.

*

“This man” Here, Tim points to the Joker “Killed my father and took me from my wardens when I was thirteen. He tortured me to the point where I believed him that I was his son, that I should kill everyone who posed danger. He then returned to Batman, pretending that he still deserved rehabilitation. They both left me to deal with everything that’s happened, the Joker seemingly unpunished, until now.” The court room gasps in shock and the Joker visibly pales underneath his make-up.

Jason looks at it from the shadows. This is the last man that hurt him, finally delivered to justice. The Batman will soon follow after, his reputation and his credibility gone alongside the Joker. Jason almost feels bad for Bruce, but the man deserves the punishment for not acting, for not searching for Jason the moment he got the news of his death. He deserves everything that is coming to him. So did the Black Mask and Talia, but they already got their share of Jason’s revenge. Black Mask is rotting in caves underneath Rome, while Talia had to bury her beloved son, Damian. And now, the one who started it all, the Joker, is finally taking the fall.

Tim is visibly shaken but he persists, delivering his accusation in a clear voice, answering the questions calmly, providing details. With that, there is no other choice – The Joker will be condemned and Batman will be ruined.

Jason leaves the court room with a smile on his face.

At home he can’t contain his elation. It is finally done! The task he set for himself, the long years of laying in wait, of meticulous planning paid off in the end. Jason Todd has been avenged.

And at the same time, the question comes – is it the time for this to stop? Should he finally end this suffering?

He delivered justice, but now that he has done it, there is nothing else left for him to do. The real Jason Todd died in the prison and what was left, the mysterious Red Hood is just a spectre, an agent of divine justice, but now that his task is done, there is nothing there to keep him going. He can finally rest, stop this flame burning inside him, he can stop lying, pretending, procuring stories, alibis. He can be free.

Everything is as it should be…

“Don’t you dare!” Tim shouts, entering the study and Jason is taken aback by the force of his voice. The boy, no, the man was usually quiet and kind, but now he is furious.

“I know all about your plans Red Hood, I know everything that is going on in that head of yours, and I forbid it. You won’t leave me alone here, not now, after everything is said and done, after you can finally leave the burden and live for yourself, you are not to leave me here!”

Jason blinks.

“I’m leaving everything to you. The house, the bank accounts, the horses.. Everything is yours, you will want for nothing, you won’t have to work a day and the society will not reject you, I can promise.”

“I don’t care for them. The society, the riches, everything. They can go up in the flames for all I care. What I did today, what I faced today, was for you. You are the only one who understood, who helped and I am not letting you go.” Tim says, getting closer, his voice heavy with emotion.

“Red, you can do so much better, you are young and your life is just ahead of you. I am bad news and you know it. I’m a shell of a man, nothing more. My purpose here is done.”

Tim looks up to stare straight into Jason’s eyes, clearly frustrated.

“Then I will give you another one. You stay here, with me and you learn how to forgive. Not an easy task, to be sure, but you like the challenge. So stay. Please…” Here, Tim’s voice breaks and Jason gathers him in his arms searching for reasons why it would be wrong, why they should be separated why Tim is better off without him…

But instead of voicing them out, he keeps Tim in his embrace and feels unworthy of the treasure he is offered. Can he be really granted salvation? Can his sins be forgiven?

He wakes up afraid.

*

Thankfully, the Dreamcatcher hasn’t truly comprehended what she saw, too confused by the bits of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ , which without any context, did not make much sense, but Jason knows she couldn’t have missed the last part. The three visions were quite enough to see that there is one person that appears in all of them, and even without the knowledge of the source material, the last bit was pretty telling.

Jason himself is a bit taken aback by what he saw, if he is to be honest. Sure, he likes Tim, Red Robin is the least irritating member of the Batfamily and Jason would pick him as a teammate over everyone else’s without hesitation, but that is something to analyze when he is not held captive by a group of terrorists.

“This Red Robin…” The Dreamcatcher says and Jason’s stomach drops. She realized that Tim would be the best bet. Sure, she cannot exactly catch him, Tim being Red Robin and all that. Without knowing his secret identity, she has nothing. Or so Jason tells himself.

“Something special to you, huh?” She continues, her tone mocking and Jason debates protesting, but it would only make her more certain.

“Dunno, maybe he simply stalks me to the point where he pops up everywhere, even in my head.” He offers, hoping that he sounds uninterested. Inside, his mind is racing. Of course Tim is special. Tim forgave him, Tim made sure to talk to Jason and to invite him to awful Bat family celebrations. Tim is the person who sometimes calls him to bitch about Damian and who, on one notable occasion, helped Jason to get his payback on the demon spawn. There are plenty of reasons to make Tim something else than just Jason’s Replacement and it is really a shame that it took a hostage situation for Jason to realize that Tim is indeed a bit special to him.

“That is not nice, Hood.” Comes the voice from the above and Jason is relieved and terrified at the same time. The cavalry has arrived, but it is the only person who shouldn’t be here for their own good.

“Well, you are stalking me. The fact that you are here is proof enough.” Jason replies, his tone forcibly light. The Dreamcatcher smiles and shouts. “Get him!”

Everything goes to shit. Tim is pretty good at evading things and hitting back, but there is not much you can do when there is a whole squad shooting at you. Normal people would run. But Tim would not leave Jason.

That is his downfall.

Tim never knows when to quit.

After neutralizing a few goons, Red Robin is overpowered. He is thrown to the ground next to Jason’s chair and Jason really wants to do something, anything to save Tim from the fate that awaits him.

“You shouldn’t have come.” He says, his voice as cold as he can muster, hoping that Tim will get the hint, leave Jason and run. Tim just sends him a resigned look.

“Your ungratefulness is noted.” Tim says as the Dreamcatcher’s goons tie him.

“I cannot believe my luck. I didn’t even have to search for you.” She drawls and Tim looks at her.

“And she is…?”

“Dreamcatcher, not my fan.” Jason replies.

“Not many people are.”

Their banter is cut by Dreamcatcher kicking Tim in the ribs.

“You vigilantes think nothing can touch you, that you are above the law and there is nothing that can hurt you. But trust me; I know how to teach you a lesson. Rick, give it to me.”

Some goon hands her a vial and she straddles Tim and in one efficient move, she injects something into his neck.

“I’m sure you are prepared to handle any kind of physical pain we can throw at you, and killing you is definitely not on my list. I have no problem with the Bat and I do not plan on having one. But there are other, more effective ways of reminding you of your mortality.” She says and Jason starts to put two and two together.

“What did you give him?” He asks, looking at Tim, who stops moving at all.

“You will see in a moment.” The woman replies and unties Tim’s hands.

It takes a second for Tim to spring up, his face contorted in fear.

“Scarecrow’s gas.” Jason whispers, guilt seeping into his mind. If he hadn’t been so careless, they wouldn’t be here. What fear Tim is facing? Being Joker’s plaything again? Losing Superboy? Batman telling him he is not good enough and that he is being replaced with Damian because he, Tim is redundant? It is surprising how many things Jason can think of now, how much he knows about Tim. His fucking luck he hasn’t realized that earlier.

Tim starts to back up, quiet, but terrified, trying to shield himself with his hands from the unseen threat.

Jason has to give it to the Dreamcatcher, she is right. Watching Tim being a prisoner of his head is one of the worst things Jason has ever experienced. He knows pleading won’t so anything, that this is precisely what Dreamcatcher’s aiming for. Still, doing nothing drives him crazy. There has to be a way to help, to guide Tim from this.

“Red, listen to me, listen to my voice, you are going to be okay…” He tries and ignores Dreamcatcher’s satisfied smirk.

“This is not real; you can deal with it, and whatever you are seeing, just…”

Tim is still running, still trying to escape when he bumps into one of the goons.

“Red, listen to me, you are stronger than this!” Jason knows it is useless, knows that even Batman cannot fully escape the fear toxin, yet it helps him to know that he tried, that he didn’t leave Tim alone in his head.

And then Tim stops shaking and replies.

“I know I am.” And as if nothing happened, he takes out the goon next to him. The warehouse erupts into chaos and out of nowhere, there is the rest of the Bat family swooping down from the ceiling. Jason can see Cassandra and Steph dealing with the terrorists on the left, Duke and Bruce are tinkering with the truck, searching for evidence and what not.

Jason feels his hands being untied and he jumps out his chair to look into Dick’s smug face.

“Now we are even, I saved you so you can’t hold Santa Prisca over my head forever.”

“Tim saved me.” Jason retorts and puts on his helmet. Much better, not having his facial expression in the open. He joins in the fray, taking guns from the fallen goons, shooting and hitting anyone who enters his line of sight.

Yes, Tim saved him, even if Jason was a dick to him, Tim still treated him as a human being, he still tried and Jason swears to himself that he will treat him better from now on.

Mid-fight, Jason realizes that he wants more of Tim in his life. They get along nicely, and Tim gave him plenty of reasons to believe that he maybe wanted Jason in his life as well. It is like Dantes’ realization that there is something he had been missing this whole time, that there is more than rage and revenge. That maybe, there is someone who looks at him and sees all the dark parts and still likes them.

He makes his way towards the part of the warehouse were Tim is fighting the Dreamcatcher, ready to help him take her down and maybe invite him to a beer or something, when he hears that they’re talking while fighting.

“How did you fight the toxin? Crane promised this was his most potent batch, you should have been tearing your face off!” She snarls and Tim pays her back for that kick in the ribs earlier.

“I didn’t. It is still active, I’m just good at dealing with it.” Tim replies and jumps on her, his knees pinning her arms to the ground. He zip-ties her hands behind her back and her face contorts into something ugly.

“Then how?”

“If the worst that could happen to you had already happened, there is not much more that you fear.” Tim replies and Jason wants to agree, wants to ask but then he _sees_.

Consciously or not, Tim moves a hand to cover a scar on his throat.

The scar that Jason left during their first meeting.

The scar that he regrets all the time, but it is still there. Marring Tim’s memories, a constant presence in his mind, a reminder of that time when Tim’s hero attacked him, called him a Replacement and tried to kill him.

_Can he be really granted salvation? Can his sins be forgiven?_

No. Of course not.

Instead of approaching Tim, Jason slinks back into the shadows, leaving the whole Batman Incorporated behind him.

Tim might have forgiven him, but Jason has not forgiven himself. Not yet. Not ever.

He misses Tim’s heartbroken glance that follows his cowardly retreat.

He gets home and wants to forget.

The sleep doesn’t come.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo, my first work with these two, it's DC so angst that is. A few notes:
> 
> 1\. The books referenced are Jane Austen's Emma, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.  
> 2\. Talia managed to create some sort of barrier in Selina's mind, with the help of Zatanna, to protect Bruce's idenity from ever being discovered, so I took some liberties and just gave the same mental barrier to the rest of the Bats, including Jason. The book sequences are magic fighting with magic with Jason's own thoughts and emotions tied to the books seeping in, hence the strange mix of codenames, period clothes etc.  
> 3\. Title from the musical 'The Count of Monte Cristo', more specifically from the song 'Hell to your doorstep'
> 
> The characters are based on all of the media, because DC is DC and one continuity is for the weak. However, Jason knows Kori and flirts with her in Emma scene, so this fic acknowledges Red Hood and the Outlaws, even if I refuse to do so. 
> 
> Let me know what you think, I have a lot of feelings about Jason lately and I really want to talk ;)


End file.
